


Many Names

by Coffeetailor



Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: Duo's shinigami, Mention of Character Death, super short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:33:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28499112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coffeetailor/pseuds/Coffeetailor
Summary: Many years after the war, the last pilot left alive has a talk with an old friend who never was.
Relationships: Duo Maxwell & Quatre Raberba Winner
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	Many Names

No one ever figured out the exact number of casualties the Eve War took, civilian or soldier. Colonies weren't always good at recording their populations before or after, especially those with poorer peoples. And historians would argue for centuries whether the L2 plagues were caused by the growing unrest and if their victims should be counted, or how many had been on the infamous L5 colony destruction, and if some could have escaped. Or the body counts held by the Gundams, or how many people they'd been and worked with. The face of a pilot that'd been broadcast had just seemed too young to really be at the helm of such a beast. But if not him, then who? And how many? Too many questions, even a century later.

But one thing everyone knew. There would be no field of crosses for them, because no country or colony had the room such a grouping would require. As many graves as stars. But there'd been a massive statue erected in the capital city on that anniversary instead, bearing that image of youth they'd all seen on the tv screens, a defiant figure with long hair and a cloak with a scythe like the machine he'd supposedly controlled, the cloak etched with stars, colonies, and as many names as they knew.

Ancient eyes looked up at the statue, a quiet little smile on his lips. Blond hair had long since gone silver, but despite his age those aqua eyes were as sharp and clear as ever. It hadn't been his idea to use Duo as a symbol of the cost of the war, but he'd greenlit the design after it'd been presented to him, and funded it. Quatre had retired for decades, his sisters' descendants keeping the business running, but that didn't mean he liked to be idle. And it was fitting.

A familiar feeling crept around in the back of his mind and he raised a hand to his chest with a pleased sigh. "Duo."

"Not every day that your own image makes you look short," the voice said behind his ear, tinged with amusement. Quatre knew better than to try and look behind him. He'd never spotted him that way. No more than a shadow, at least.

And it was a shadow that moved around him and flew up to the bronze shoulder and formed into a shape that matched the elder's memory in ways that photographs or statues never could. Duo grinned down at him, hair drifting as weightlessly as if in the emptiness of space. He could have looked human. Had to him, once. But Quatre knew better now.

"It's kind of flattering though," Duo added, resettling his cloak about himself. "Not that they know what they made. Been a long time since I've had an altar dedicated to me."

"I thought you might show up for the dedication," Quatre said, leaning back into the familiar feeling of his friend's aura. How he'd ever mistaken it for a human, he didn't know. Too close to see, perhaps. But his powers had grown too, and it was like looking from the top of a mountain, finally able to see the full horizon. But still not the whole globe. "It certainly would have caused a stir."

Duo snickered at the idea, holding a hand out so that a scythe appeared grasped in it, leaning it against his shoulder just like his statue likeness had. "Sure would have. But then people would start freaking out, have some heart attacks, do stupid things, and I'd be right back to work. Besides, I knew that wouldn't be the only time you came around. You were bankrolling the whole thing, weren't you?"

"Well, myself and the young Mr. Khushrenada."

"Ah yeah, Millie. Kid's got style. Not as much as his great-grandpa, sure, but it's pretty hard to beat the old eyebrow king." Grinning, he stood up and strolled across the handle to the statue's scythe, touching a few names along the way. Including his own, set in bronze right near the tip. After all, the real thing had been his and his buddy's. "Trowa sends his love, by the way. Asked if you'd be coming any time this century."

Quatre couldn't help his smile, heart glowing at the passed message. "Tell him soon. I still have a few things to finish up. But soon. Tell him I love him too. And miss him."

"You've got my word," Duo said, nodding. Splitting those two had been one of the hardest things he'd had to do in this job, but letting a ghost linger around the last survivor of the pilots wasn't an option. And it would have only killed him faster. Ghosts were not good for the living.

"I've missed you too, you know," Quatre added, looking up at him. "And Heero, and Wufei."

"We'll all be waiting for you when you've finish things up here." The immortal man stepped off the end of the looming blade and as much flowed down to the ground as he fell, landing in front of Quatre. "And you know you can always call for me."

Quatre smiled, resisting the urge to step forward and pull the other man into a hug. At his age, the touch of death could be too literal. "I also know what it'll mean when I do."

"Yeah, I know, and I know how dang stubborn you are too."

"I think we'll all a bit that way," Quatre said with a chuckle. He didn't miss the way those violet eyes wandered away from him to peer into the city beyond, or the sirens screaming a moment later to announce someone's tragic misfortune. "That sounds like you're being called away. Until next time, Duo. Perhaps I'll be ready to go with you then."

"Not holding my breath," Duo said, snickering as that form faded back into the shadows It'd emerged from. In the time it took to breathe, he was gone and Quatre was left looking at the statue alone again.

"Soon, my friends. Soon."


End file.
